If the Padres could hit or field better, this rash of injured arms would really be a shame. As it is, it has merely turned highly unlikely into absolutely impossible.

Joe Wieland’s elbow “tightness,” which will land the right-hander on the disabled list, is simply part of a footnote for the paltry Padres, who on Wednesday flubbed and flailed their way to another loss at Petco Park, 6-2 to Colorado.

But it nonetheless is remarkable that not even one-fifth of the way through the season, the Padres will officially shut down their sixth pitcher (fourth starter).

It’s unprecedented for some.

“I’ve never experienced it,” said Darren Balsley, the Padres’ pitching coach since 2003.

It’s insomnia-inducing for others.

“There’s no explaining it,” said Dustin Moseley, who had shoulder surgery last month. “I’ve sat in my bed many nights thinking about what happened to me and the things that have happened to the four or five guys it has happened to.”

Forgive Moseley for not being entirely certain of the tally. It’s possible he hadn’t gotten the news about Wieland. You definitely need 4G on your phone to keep up.

Wieland and manager Bud Black both unequivocally downplayed the severity of the pitcher’s elbow issue.

“I haven’t had any actual pain, just discomfort,” Wieland said.

Black characterized Wieland’s stay on the DL as “rest” more than rehab after the rookie underwent an MRI and no structural damage was found.

“We’re going to let this quiet down,” Black said. “He’ll be back on the horse in a couple weeks.”

Wieland was supposed to start Saturday in Philadelphia. Instead, it will be Edinson Volquez. After Jeff Suppan on Sunday, Anthony Bass or Tim Stauffer will pitch Monday, with the other going Tuesday.

Stauffer, who was scheduled to be the Opening Day starter before an elbow strain sidelined him, made his final rehab start Wednesday and is expected to be the 19th Padre to take the mound when he starts next week in Washington. Already, Alex Hinshaw’s 1 1/3 innings Wednesday brought the total number of pitchers used by the Padres this season to a National League-high 18.

Wieland joins starters Cory Luebke (elbow), Moseley and Stauffer, reliever Micah Owings (forearm) and closer Huston Street (lat) on the sideline. Luebke could well undergo Tommy John surgery soon. Owings was transferred this week to the 60-day DL. Moseley won’t be pitching again this season after making one start.

Balsley might be a guru, but even if he were a shaman (or a surgeon) he’d be in no better shape this season.

Look, this isn’t meant to be an apology. No one in their right mind is blaming the Padres’ awful record (11-21) on their pitching injuries.

Five teams will make the National League playoffs, and if you believed the Padres would be one of them in 2012, then I am torn between feeling sorry for you and being envious of your optimism and more than a little bit worried about your drug habit.

This team was not expected to be good and has proved to be worse than the opposite of that.

We didn’t know about the holes in their gloves, and we didn’t realize how big the holes were in their bats. But we thought we could count on their being few holes in their arms.

If there ever was a hint of glint of a smidgen of a reason to believe the Padres would contend in 2012, it was because they can always pitch, right?

Hey, at least we can still root for the Suppan Show, which began with the shutdown of Luebke and will go on due to the “resting” of Wieland. After a season away from the big leagues, the 37-year-old is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in his two starts for the Padres.

In baseball, there are always good stories, even on bad teams.

And in San Diego, where there’s always next year, maybe there is long-term good to come of this adversity.

“In spring training we were talking about the pitching depth we have in our organization,” Balsley said. “Now is the time to see if we do, to prove we have depth.”

Balsley has 130 more games to think about, not to mention 2013 and beyond. He is getting an advance look at some pitchers he really liked in spring training, even if he didn’t anticipate coaching them this season.

Hinshaw, whose previous big-league experience was parts of 2008 and ’09 with the San Francisco Giants, retired all four batters he faced Wednesday, a day after being called up from Triple-A Tucson. In the past week, 26-year-old Brad Brach was recalled from Tucson, and 23-year-old Miles Mikolas made the jump from Double-A San Antonio.

“They’re holding down the fort,” said Balsley, whose staff’s 3.33 ERA ranked seventh in the National League. “They can do better. But we haven’t been too bad either. They’re keeping us in ballgames. ... They will get better as soon as they get comfortable on a major league mound. It’s going to happen soon, because we keep running them out there.”